X-Files, Season Three (1995)

reviewed by Charity Bishop

With the inexplicable disappearance of Agent Mulder (David Duchovny) creating chaos in the inner workings of the FBI, Agent Scully (Gillian Anderson) is forced to attempt to determine what can be learned about his recent investigations into the paranormal in the desert where he believed an alien landing was foiled and/or concealed some years before by the government.

Working against the authorities determined to hush up the affairs of the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) whose involvement into alien technology and cover-up runs back into the 1950's, Scully is pitted against her boss, Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), whom she believes is somehow involved in Mulder's disappearance. Unknown to her and her associates, Mulder has narrowly escaped an explosion with his life and lies unconscious in the care of the neighboring Native American tribe. Luring him forth from his subconscious mind, Mulder returns to a world interrupted with tragedy. Scully's sister Melissa has been shot and left for dead in the county hospital. As Scully copes with her sister's death and the circumstances behind it, she follows the newly returned Mulder through a series of unusual cases.

From the boy who can channel lightning to the devil incarnate determined to rid the world of gifted children, Mulder and Scully form an impenetrable bond while discovering their numerous differences. Season three is wrought with more of the same fantastic actor chemistry we have come to expect from the characters by now, but has some substantially weak episodes. I'm not a big fan of their ongoing "government conspiracy" plot line, which infuses a half dozen events and seem to bog down in the overall mythology of the series. Some of my friends, however, digress very strongly with me on this point, so it becomes an issue of what you like as an individual. That being said, I think season four is among the weaker of the consecutive years simply because it seems to become sidetracked with its own enthusiasm. Admittedly, I'm a fan of later seasons, but this one does have some good material to offer.

My favorite episode of the season was "Revelations," in which a gifted youngster is protected from the devil through various intervening individuals and forces. It's the first episode that reminds us of Scully's deeply religious roots, and has a magnificent closing line about how God speaks, but man chooses whether or not to listen. Shades of her Catholic faith appear from that point on, though never with quite as much poignancy. I'm also fond of "Quagmire," in which Mulder believes a local lake is haunted by a sea monster. There are quite a few creepy cases this time around too, the most jarring of which being "Syzygy," in which the residents of a local town believe a series of cult killings pertaining to witchcraft are being carried out. Dark things happen in the town, resulting in the ultimate conclusion that the planets have aligned wrong (Mulder visits an astrologer to learn more).

Minimal sexual content makes an appearance, but in "Syzygy," two girls bemoan their virginity and ask one of the local football heroes if he would like to rectify that. He pulls over, and is found strangled the next morning. Under the influence of supernatural forces, the female police investigator on the case comes heavily on to Mulder, and Scully walks in on them kissing on the bed. Mild innuendoes are traded on occasion. In "Grotesque," we see most of a naked male model posing for a class full of art students (his privates are covered). "Avatar" contains one of the only sex scenes in the history of the show in the opening sequence, between Skinner and a mysterious blonde (ironically enough, played by SG1's Amanda Tapping). 

Just about every episode has something gruesome and/or frightening in it, but of greater interest to Christians will be the supernatural influence in some of the cases. In "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose," a psychic able to predict the deaths of people who cross his path becomes involved in their investigation. Various fortune tellers are found murdered. "The List" finds death row inmates and guards murdered (this may be the most gruesome of the season) by the vengeful spirit/corporeal form of a former inmate. "The Walk" features an amputee able to project his essence in order to take vengeance on those he feels has wronged him. "Oubliette" intimates a psychic connection between an abducted child and a survivor of a similar kidnapping. "Pusher" pits a villain capable of mind-control against the FBI, and "Teso Dos Bichos" link recent deaths to a malevolent spirit unleashed from an ancient urn. Definitely not my favorite season, but it does contain a few hidden gems.